Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 October 2015
238. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of restoring the ex-quota guidance counselling to all schools in 2016; the cost of a 50% restoration; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33910/15]
View answerSince September 2012 at post primary level guidance provision is organised by school management from within the staffing schedule allocation. Guidance is a whole school activity and schools have autonomy on how best to prioritise their available resources to meet the requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate range of subjects to students.
The budget measure that required schools to manage the provision of guidance from within their standard staffing allocation was introduced as an alternative to an adjustment to the standard staffing schedule. Such an adjustment would be the equivalent of an 0.6 change in the staffing schedule. My Department helped shelter the impact for DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations so that it is based on a ratio of 18.25:1 compared to the standard 19:1 – an improvement of 0.75 on the standard staffing schedule for these schools.
The net reduction in guidance provision as a consequence of this budget measure was of the order of 500 posts. The annual budget saving from this measure is over €30 million. This gives an indication of the cost involved if this budget measure was not in place. The Department helped shelter the impact for DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations.
The representative organisations for School Principals and school management developed a framework that assists schools on how best to manage the provision of guidance from within their staffing allocation. This approach puts a greater emphasis on group-work and class-based activity at senior cycle and maximises the amount of time available for those pupils that need one to one support.
I have no plans to return to a situation where there would be a separate allocation for guidance in schools. If economic recovery continues I hope the Government will be in a position to improve the standard staffing allocation to schools. However, I believe that it is desirable to give schools discretion on how to use those increased resources.
